With 900 types of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) worldwide and a legislative mandate to speed UAS integration into the national airspace, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is poised to propose rules later this year to regulate some aspects of UAS operations.1
Although proposed regulations have been under development for months, the legislation, signed into law by President Obama on Feb. 14, specifies that unmanned aircraft (UAs) — sometimes called unmanned aerial vehicles, drones or radio-controlled aircraft — must be safely integrated into the system no later than Sept. 30, 2015, and that a comprehensive plan for accomplishing the integration must be developed within nine months. That plan should provide not only a timeline but also a definition of “acceptable standards for operation and certification of civil unmanned aircraft systems,” requirements for operators and pilots, and a designation of airspace for “…
